Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-09-24

Distressing Details of the Tornado's Havoc
on the Rio Grande-Hundreds of the
Poor Homeless and Destitute-The Work
of Rescue Amid the Raging Elements
A Canadian Town Fire-Swept and in a
DepIorabIe Condition.
New YORK Sept 24-Asiatic cholera was
brought to this port Friday morning by the
steamer Alesia, which comes from the
cholera-infected ports of Italy 1t comes in
its worst most virulent form, and death was
the sure, quick result Of an attack.
The Alesia sailed from Naples on Sept 8.
When nine days out from that port the first
case, that of Luiga Maria, a Storage passen-
ger, was discovered by the ships doctor He
fingered along for three days in great agony
and died On the following day Paul Antonio
Baldageria, another Storage passenger, died
of the same plague Both were promptly
buried at sea. From that time almost every
day until the ship arrived in port death oc-
CURED, and all received the same sea burial.
There were eight deaths in all The others
were Jean de Nivolin and Jean Somma, sail
ors and Storage passengers Serafin de Lilo,
Anna Netriagad, Francesca Matteo, and
| Maria Antonio Scala Veno
When the Alesia arrived off quarantine,
Health Officer Smith boarded her and learned
these facts He also found that the ships
| surgeon had diagnosed four other cases of
Storage passengers sick with the same dis
| ease
The general agent of the Fabre line, j. Ter
| knie, on Broadway, was notified, and the
| quarantine commissioners, Mr. Knile, and F.
| of thp
mission, at once proceeded to the quarantine.
An extended examination by Health Officer
Smith resulted in the discovery OF four
! additional cases on board which had
apparently developed during the day. The
ship was at once ordered down to the lower
bay. The sick were conveyed to the hospitals
on Swinburnes island, and the remainder of
the sol Storage passengers were transferred
to the hospital at Hoffman's island. The
three cabin passengers on board, together
with the forty. five surviving members of the
crew, were also transferred to Hoffman's
island by the Castle Garden transfer boat
OF the sick ones, three were children, and
| their three mothers went with their babies
weeping bitterly.
The baggage and passengers were placed in
one of the large hospitals and subjected to a
iiSOiOho WIN rs ldol
as the passengers and baggage were fumi-
gated they were transferred to the immense
hospital building which stands about 100 feet
distant Everything was done TO avoid all
chance of future ravages of the disease The
steamer was also subjected to thorough dis
infection and cleaning. The water in the
tanks was in the first place emptied and the
tanks filled with clear Croton water The
disinfectant used in the ship was also sulphur.
In day or two the Alesia will be in shape
to be transferred from her present place in
the lower bay to BOWS dock, Brooklyn The
crew and passengers, according to the health
officer, will have to remain on the island for
week at least. The time was indefinite, de-
pending upon developments.
The steamer Alesia, Capt Nallar, sailed
from Naples at time when the
cholera was raging in that city and
in the vicinity and in an even worse
form in other Italian ports and in Sicily.
Those who were taken sick got aboard the
steamer at Naples The other ports at which
the Alesia took passengers and merchandise
were Marseilles, France; Genoa, and Paler-
mo. 1t is thought that some of the cases
originally came from Sicily.
The steamers which hereafter arrive from
Mediterranean ports will be subjected to a
very close examination by the health officers